Tag: Radio Astronomy

Astronomers found a young solar system, looking much like our own did, billions of years in the past. Located 470 light years from Earth, the star DM Tau is surrounded by a disk of dust and gas, which show two rings where planets are forming, located at roughly the same distances as the asteroid belt and Neptune in our own solar system. The star, believed to be between three and five million years old, is seen in the constellation of Taurus the Bull.

For just the second time in history, astronomers have witnessed a repeating fast radio burst. These events are formed far beyond our galaxy, and release more energy in a small fraction of a second than our Sun produces in decades. Researchers are uncertain what causes this phenomenon, although they may be the result of black holes or ultra-dense neutron stars colliding with each other. The event was witnessed by researchers at the new CHIME radio telescope in Canada, as that instrument underwent early testing. Only 60 of these events have ever been recorded, and this is just the second one ever seen repeating. Once CHIME is fully operational, astronomers hope to see several dozen fast radio bursts every day.

A giant planet, more than 12 times as massive as Jupiter, has been discovered floating freely through space 20 light years from Earth. This gas giant exhibits a powerful magnet field, 3.8 million times stronger than the one surrounding Earth. The planet was found utilizing the Very Large Array of radio telescopes in New Mexico. This marks the first time ever that a planet has been discovered using a radio telescope.

An astronomical observatory in Canada has recently found a mysterious burst of low-frequency radio waves emanating from deep space. Fast radio bursts, which last just a small fraction of a second, have been observed a few dozen times since they were first seen in 2007. However, this event, recorded on July 25th, is unlike any similar event ever before recorded, with a record low frequency. These events have left astronomers questioning what could cause these enormous explosions in deep space.

For the first time ever, astronomers have witnessed a black hole swallowing a star. The event took place 150 million years ago in a pair of colliding galaxies called Arp 299. The black hole was 20 million times larger than our own Sun, and was seen consuming a body twice the size of our stellar companion.

Astronomers assisting in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence are now able to examine millions of stars more than before, thanks to a new listening device. The multibeam receiver at the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia will be able to listen in on millions of stars around the Milky Way galaxy, searching for new lifeforms. The device is run by the Breakthrough Listen project, a part of Breakthrough Initiatives, founded in 2015.